It’s not often that scientists are able to find tuff in continental sedimentation, but this was accomplished in the PreUrals region by Kazan Federal University, Borisyak Institute of Paleontology, and […]
Extinction events
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets, Extinction events, Impact events, Press Release, Proxima Centauri
Risks For Life On Proxima b From Sterilizing Asteroid Impacts
We consider the implications that a debris belt located between Proxima b and Proxima c would pose for the rate of large asteroid impacts that could sterilize Proxima b from […]
Posted inExtinction events, Press Release
In Earth's Largest Extinction Land Animal Die-offs Began Long Before Marine Extinction
The mass extinction at the end of the Permian Peri od 252 million years ago — one of the great turnovers of life on Earth — appears to have played […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extinction events, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Ocean Anoxia during a Biocrisis on the Ancient Earth
A recent study provides new constraints on the timing of ocean anoxia during the Smithian-Spathian boundary (SSB), which represents a period of ‘biocrisis’ for Earth’s marine ecosystems as they recovered […]
Posted inExtinction events
Mutated Ferns Shed Light On Ancient Mass Extinction
Most researchers believe that the mass extinction 201 million years ago was caused by release of CO2 by volcanism with global warming as a consequence. Now, new data from fern […]
Posted inExtinction events, Press Release
Did An Extraterrestrial Impact Trigger The Extinction Of Ice-age Animals?
A controversial theory that suggests an extraterrestrial body crashing to Earth almost 13,000 years ago caused the extinction of many large animals and a probable population decline in early humans […]
Posted inExtinction events, Press Release
New Evidence Suggests Volcanoes Caused Biggest Mass Extinction Ever
Researchers say mercury buried in ancient rock provides the strongest evidence yet that volcanoes caused the biggest mass extinction in the history of the Earth. The extinction 252 million years […]
Posted inExtinction events, Press Release
Oxygen Loss Triggered Mass Extinction In Ancient Oceans That Resembled Our Own
Roughly 430 million years ago, during the Earth’s Silurian Period, global oceans were experiencing changes that would seem eerily familiar today. Melting polar ice sheets meant sea levels were steadily […]
Posted inExtinction events, Press Release
Clues To Recovery From Mass Extinction
About 252 million years ago, more than 90 percent of all animal life on Earth went extinct. This event, called the “Permian-Triassic mass extinction,” represents the greatest catastrophe in the […]
Posted inExtinction events, Press Release
Muon Radiation Dose and Marine Megafaunal Extinction at the end-Pliocene Supernova
Considerable data and analysis support the detection of a supernova at a distance of about 50 pc, ~2.6 million years ago. This is possibly related to the extinction event around […]